Consumption and Everyday Life
Summary
Consumption and everyday life research examines how people acquire, use and discard goods and services as part of daily routines, social identities and shared norms. It explores how market structures, cultural narratives and technological platforms shape what is deemed desirable, how value is ascribed and how practices evolve over time. From the ritual of morning coffee to participation in online marketplaces and sharing schemes, consumption both reflects and produces social ties, ethical attitudes and economic inequalities. The field highlights tensions between individual choice and structural constraints, revealing how digital intermediation, global supply chains and sustainability imperatives reframe perceptions of responsibility, authenticity and well-being. Insights inform policymakers, designers and community initiatives seeking to foster more equitable, low-impact patterns of consumption without overlooking the complex socio-material contexts of everyday life.
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Consumption and Everyday Life publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in consumption and everyday life across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Embeddedness: The degree to which economic exchanges are shaped by social relations, norms and community practices.
Self-authorization: The reflexive process through which consumers grant themselves moral and identity-based permission to pursue contested consumption.
Assemblage: A heterogeneous network of social, technological and institutional elements that collectively produce market phenomena.
Pharmakon: A concept denoting a technology’s dual potential as both remedy and poison, reflecting its ambivalent social effects.
References
- Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference. Journal of Consumer Research (2023).
- How Social Media Influencers Impact Consumer Collectives: An Embeddedness Perspective. Journal of Consumer Research (2023).
- Marketing without trust? – Blockchain technologies in the sharing economy as assemblage and pharmakon. Journal of Business Research (2023).
About these summaries
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